The application of animal manure to farmland is an economically and environmentally sound management practice for most feedlot operators and farmers. Land application returns nutrients from manure to the soil and helps build soil fertility. Manure provides nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium, magnesium, micronutrients and organic matter. Applying manure to soil has been shown to improve soil tilth, increase water-holding capacity, reduce wind and water erosion and improve soil aeration. Land application of manure should be managed to recycle plant nutrients rather than used as a disposal method.

They stood before me as I was signing books in my booth at the National FFA Convention this fall in Indianapolis. The man showed his age but was still holding up. “This is gonna be my last,” he said.

Two months ago, a vote was taken in Arizona. Not a vote about legislators or representatives, but a vote that had to do with agriculture. Most people throughout the United States had very little knowledge or understanding about the measure, but its future implications are widespread.

Cows look forward to eating every day. Do you look forward to having all the feed ingredients available to put into a mix and feed the cows each day?

Readers will notice we’ve made some changes this month to Progressive Dairyman. We think our new combination of headline and body text typefaces are more reader-friendly. The combination also allows us to fit more information-packed words on a page.

Editor’s note: The following is the second of a two-part series discussing basic financial statements and analysis tools.

I have been a Spanish teacher for 20 years. A while ago, I was asked to help local dairy producers with their Mexican employees. I started working and have never, ever looked back. I love what I do. As I gain experience in this world of milking cows, scraping estiércol (es-dee-air-col) or manure and pushing up feed, I am beginning to form an image of what makes a good patrón (pa-drone) or boss.

Marketing is becoming an important tool to help dairy producers reach maximum profitability. I interviewed Scott Stewart who recently wrote a book, New Times, New Rules – Take Control of Your Farm Marketing, about agriculture marketing. I asked him how dairy producers should approach marketing and how agriculture markets have changed in the last 25 years.

Today it takes more than hard work to operate a profitable dairy. Financial measurements help make it possible to not only understand and measure but to sustain profitability despite expense rates that have risen from 50 percent of gross income in 1980 to 70 to 80 percent of gross income today.

In the fall of 1983, my sister Nina and I devised a plan for her family to join our family in Jerome to embark on a Christmas trip to visit our two brothers living in Arizona. I had acquired a previously fire-gutted, 15-passenger Dodge Maxi-van that only had two full-width seats in addition to the single bucket seat and front passenger seat. With 11 kids and their parents making the trip, I decided to construct a bunk bed at the back of the van, complete with made-to-fit foam mattresses covered with sheets, blankets and pillows. “Since we would be traveling in the night, why not make it comfortable for everyone?” I thought.